


Roses {Kakashi Hatake}

by Crartistic



Category: Naruto
Genre: Family, Family Fluff, Multi, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2018-12-02 02:29:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11499882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crartistic/pseuds/Crartistic
Summary: |Flower Series Book 1|Kobayashi Akahana was an ordinary shinobi from Konoha. Her love for flowers and happy-go-lucky attitude were the things she was recognised by. She's the daughter of a couple running a flower shop, yet she had always admired shinobi for their strenght and courage.She meets Kakashi in the Academy, and after his father killed himself, leaving Kakashi to grow distant, she's determined to make him happy again. She graduates soon after him, and her plan is set in action.But a shinobi's life comes with responsibilities, sacrifice, hardship and death, sometimes of people you hold dear.//DISCLAIMER//I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I only own Akahana and her family and other characters I might make up!





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The prologue is set in the future, you'll eventually learn what happened for Kakashi's heart to be broken. The rest of the story is set in the past. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> -x Crartistic

A twenty year old Kakashi lay in bed, unable to sleep. He kept changing his sleeping position, like someone else was sharing the bed with him. He made a movement like he was pushing away someone else's arm, but all he hit was air.

He could see her when he closed his eyes, her red hair, in combination with those green eyes and rosy lips. He had known her for years, from when they were still in the Academy.

He missed her, she had gone away and she wasn't coming back anytime soon. The only way for him to find her again, was for him to go to her. That wouldn't be what she wanted, she would want for him to just move on and wait patiently, however hard it might be.

He hated the feeling, he hated not having anyone to sleep next to, he had gotten used to it after all those years they had been together.

At times, he wished he would just forget everything about her, her smile, her appearance, how he felt about her, just like the roses she had given him on their first date had withered away.

He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep again, but she would even haunt him in his sleep. He'd dream about their happy days, or he would be reminded of what happened the day she had to leave.

In the end, he fell asleep, and he did not dream of her today for a change.

 

The next day, he had to get groceries. He strotted down the path in the village, hands in his pockets, looking up to the sky.

"Kakashi!" he heard an all too familiar voice, it was the excited and hyper Might Gai, "I challenge you to a taijutsu match!"

"I'm busy," Kakashi told him prior to walking away from, resuming his way to the store.

"Oi, Kakashi! Don't you want to set the score even again?! You know it's 17 wins for me and 16 for you!" Gai retorted.

"No," he told him, "I've won 17 times already, you've won 15 times."

"It's about her, isn't it?" Gai asked, refering to the red haired girl, Kobayashi Akahana, "You know what she'd say if she were to see you like this."

"I know, but she's not here," Kakashi simply told him. This time, he actually walked away from him, ignoring his attempts to change his mind.

Gai had tried to help him move on many times and their matches did come as a distraction, yet he couldn't get over it. He missed her terribly, all he wanted was for her to come back to him.

Gai wasn't the only one who tried, both Asuma and Kurenai kept telling he would get over it, he just needed to learn to accept it and stop blaming himself for the fact she left him alone. She broke his heart, and Kakashi held himself fully responsible.

After getting the groceries, he dropped them off at his home and went to the training ground. He had been stripped of his ANBU duties a couple years back and was now living as a regular jounin, no more code names and masks.

He had shared the last of his ANBU days with Akahana, and he cherished those memories, just like he never wanted to forget how they first met and when they truly got to know each other. Those memories had made him into the person he was that day, just like the memories of Obito, Rin and Minato and his wife Kushina.

The first time they met was at the first day of the Academy. They were both only five years old. They had been the opposite of each other, she was a happy child, humble and kind. He, on the other hand, was cocky, arrogant and very antisocial, which only got worse after his father committed suicide.

That night, he dreamt about her again.


	2. Meeting

The five year old girl was excited to go to the Academy for the first time. Her parents were only civilians, yet she had always wanted to be a shinobi. She had always admired them for their strenght en courage, and she wanted to be like them. She wasn't physically or mentally gifted, but she was smart enough to know when to attack and when to run away, and she knew the physical strenght would come after a lot of training.

She was late for class that day and had to introduce herself in front of everyone, "My name is Kobayashi Akahana," she said, with a smile on her face, "I'm here to become a shinobi who protects those she loves and defends the village she has been raised in."

She seated next to a boy with silver hair, since it was the nearest vacant seat. The boy obviously didn't like her sitting next to him, he'd rather sit alone.

"What's your name?" Akahana asked him.

"Hatake Kakashi," he replied reluctantly. He was grumpy like hell, which she didn't like.

"If you want me to sit somewhere else, you can just say so," she said, "No need to be so grumpy." 

The rest of the time, they ignored each other. Akahana took her time to chat with other students like Might Gai, Sarutobi Asuma and Yuuhi Kurenai. She also spoke with a few others, but all of them were people Kakashi believed were below him.

He was a grumpy, arrogant, self absorbed jerk, according to nearly everyone Akahana spoke with, yet she still wanted to give him a chance.

He didn't seem the type to actually want people to talk to, but she knew everyone needed friends. After all, that was what her parents always told her.

 

She learned what could be the reason for his arrogance rather soon, when they were practising throwing shuriken. He was better than everyone else, hitting the bull's eye nearly every time.

She was actually getting envious of his talent, it all seemed to come so natural to him, whilst she trained whenever she had the time, until the point she would drop in exhaustion, without drastically improving.

Even though, she couldn't allow herself to lose hope. She would have to remain positive and believe she could be just as good as him if she trained hard enough.

There were times she had to help in their small flower shop, what she did with pleasure. Their store had lovely decoration and they sold all kinds of flowers. Her personal favourite kind were roses, even though they were beautiful and full of colour, they had thorns.

It was also a way her mother used to refer to her. She believed Akahana would grow up to be a beautiful woman with hair as fiery red as her passion for everything that had to do with being a shinobi.

"Mummy, why do you think that?" she would ask and her mum would tell her she just knew. She never asked for a better explanation, her mother's intuiton was rarely wrong.

That afternoon, she didn't have to help, so she decided to take the time to train. Shuriken after shuriken hit the stump, but she was far from the middle circle. She didn't even hit the target in the first place.

"If you're gonna suck this hard, it's best for you to quit going to the Academy and go to a regular school instead," the silver haired boy stated as he walked out of the forest.

"I'm sorry I don't have your talent," she said, "but I'm not going to change my dream."

"You'll never make it, you'd make an awful shinobi. I doubt you'll even get to become genin."

Akahana didn't like the way he looked down on her, that arrogant jerk could say whatever he wanted about her, she was not going to change her mind. Rather, she was going to prove him wrong. She was going to show him she could make it to jounin, perhaps even ANBU and she would have the last laugh, "We'll see about that."

Kakashi started training in silence, he wasn't going to waste anymore breath on the talentless girl training next to him. He kept aiming the shuriken and kunai perfectly, whilst she kept failing.

She didn't really want to ask him for advice, he would only mock her for the rest of their time in the Academy, yet she realised she was probably going to need it.

"Oi, if you think I'm that bad, at least give me some advice."

"Aim," was all he said.

_How useful..._  Akahana thought. Did he really think she wasn't even trying? Did he think she was mindlessy throwing kunai and shuriken at a stump? The target was there for a reason.

She kept training until nightfall, while Kakashi had stopped earlier. At the moment, she was exhausted and her aim had slightly improved, next time she was going to improve her stamina, since that needed a lot of training as well.

Her mother was waiting for her at home, "Darling, how did your training go?"

"It went great!" she said enthusiastically, "aside from the jerk training on the same training ground."

"Who?" her father asked, coming from behind her. He messed with her hair with a smile on her face, "Who is this 'jerk' you were talking about?"

"Hatake Kakashi," she replied, "He said I should just quit, but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to prove him I can be a great shinobi!" she added, her eyes sparkling with determination.

Her father chuckled, "That's the spirit!" he exclaimed. Kobayashi Sora was an excitable man, with hidden intellect, intellect he believed his daughter had as well.

"Good night tou-san, kaa-san!" Akahana said prior to going to bed. She needed to be on her best tomorrow if she wanted to succeed. They were going to be talking about jutsus and stragedy, her two strongest points and her first chance to show she was not a good-for-nothing shinobi.

 

Yet, it didn't turn out like she thought it would. Kakashi did not change his mind about her, she was still a good-for-nothing shinobi to him who would get herself killed on her first real mission.

He even gave her a nickname to mock her, 'Flower Girl'. And that was not even the most frustating part, the thing that frustated her the most was the fact she didn't have anything to mock him about. He was too good in anything to be made into a joke and he didn't even care about the stick up his ass. Hell, it was an entire bloody tree, maybe even a freaking forest.

Only five minutes left of class, and she had finally found something to use against him, "You're being such a meanie,  _Kakashi-chan_."

"Don't call me that," he told her. He was seated in front of her, all alone, whilst she sat next to Kurenai and Asuma.

"What should I call you then? Hatake-chan?" she then asked mockingly with a smug grin plastered on her face.

"No."

"Kaka-chan? Kashi-chan? Hata-chan? Take-chan?" she suggested, even though she had already decided she was going to stick with 'Kakashi-chan'.

"No, no, no and no," he told her, turning around to look at her, "Don't chan me ever again."

"Kakashi-chan."

"You know what? I'm not going to talk to you anymore."

"All right, Kakashi-chan." Kakashi gave her a death glare before he turned around. He didn't like her, he didn't like the way she mocked him, and he didn't like how he was affected by it. She was a terrible shinobi for Kami's sake.

Her mocking him had made everyone close by chuckle, the great Hatake Kakashi was butthurt. Not just by anyone, by the person who preformed the worst in class.

Upon hearing about from his son, even Hatake Sakumo was amused. The girl could be a good influence, perhaps she could make him loosen up.

He had only seen her once, when he brought Kakashi to the Academy for the first time. The happy redhead had been brought by her parents, ordinary civilians running a flower shop.

After what happened, he wanted to know more about her, he wanted to know why she had taken an interest in mocking his son. Apparently, it was tempting.

He left to visit their shop that night after dinner, where he found the said girl behind the counter helping a customer, "Hatake-san?" she questioned when she saw him. She wore a bright smile, "How can I help you?"

He smiled back at her, "I'd like to know what made you mock Kakashi," he said. Thinking he didn't like it and wanted her to stop, she opened her mouth to apologise. Before she could say anything, he spoke up again, "Which I totally think you should keep doing."

Akahana laughed, relieved, "Good to know you approve," she said.

"Someone needs to get rid of his stuck-up attitude," Sakumo told her with a smile, "since I failed to do so."

"Keep trying," she urged, "It's gonna take long to remove a forest."

Sakumo wasn't going to stop trying, the girl certainly did have a point, "Good night, Akahana-chan."

"Good night, Hatake-san."

He left, now having had a proper look at her. She was eloquent for her age, but that wasn't a big surprise since her parents were always polite and had probably given it to Akahana.

From what he had seen, he could say she was determined, a great quality for a shinobi. Kakashi might not be able to see it, but he did, the girl had potential and perhaps he could find someone to bring it out.

It would be a good lesson for his son, seeing Akahana become a shinobi. It would teach him you don't always need a lot of natural talent, but you did need passion.


	3. Tutor

Sakumo stayed true to his word, he did actively look for someone to help the girl. She couldn't learn everything by herself, she need help from a jounin and he actually had someone in mind.

He wasn't quite sure whether he would actually agree on it, bearing in mind his lazy attitude and the fact he didn't even know her. The seventeen year old shinobi was known to be intelligent, yet he was pretty damn lazy. He was member of a well known clan and a traditional team combination.

His name was Nara Shikaku. His teammates were Yamanaka Inoichi and Akimichi Chouza. He found them training their Ino-Shika-Chou formation and he patiently waited for them to notice him.

"Sakumo-san?" Inoichi questioned, it was unusual for the White Fang to visit their training ground.

"Shikaku, can I talk to you for a bit?" he asked, "I've got a favour to ask."

The Nara shrugged. He thought it was troublesome, like he did with nearly everything, but he would listen to him. He followed him back to the village as Sakumo told him what he was asking from him.

"Tutoring a five year old?" he questioned, "Are you sure of it?"

Sakumo nodded, "She has potential, but she won't be able to reach it on her own. Her parents can't help her and I highly doubt their teacher actually agrees with me." In truth, he did not. All he saw when looking at the girl was the same as Kakashi, tutoring her was just a waste of time.

"Should she really start out this early?" Shikaku asked, "It may not be good for her too start this young."

"You can start with the basics," Sakumo retorted, making Shikaku think about it. He had heard about her passion and he couldn't deny that was important, but who knew what would become of her afterwards. "So, what do you say?"

 

She was surprised to say the least, surprised to have been visited by a jounin that afternoon. "Am I in trouble?" she asked, "Did I do something wrong?"

The young jounin shook his head, his pineapple shaped hair unmoving, "I've come by because someone asked me for a favour."

"What was it?"

"He asked me to tutor you."

She stared at him with a blank expression, thinking it was a joke. When he kept looking as serious as he did when he spoke those words, she realised it wasn't. A smile appeared on her face, "And you agreed on it?" she asked, "You will tutor me?"

He nodded, "It's troublesome, but it's not like I've got anything else to do at the moment."

Before they could start, she needed permission from her parents and even though Akahana knew they would grant it, she still had to ask. They agreed, just like she thought they would, after asking the Nara a lot of questions concerning the training he had planned for her and who asked him.

He didn't have an answer for the latter, since he promised he wouldn't tell anyone who asked him to do it. Of course he thought it was strange he didn't want the girl to know, but he must have had a reason.

 

Just like Sakumo had suggested, he started off with the basics, the things they should be capable of at the Academy.

When Akahana kept missing the target, Shikaku decided to give her some advice, "Take more time to aim. Once you actually hit the target properly, you can practise your speed."

She nodded and tried again. This time, she nearly hit the bull's eye, but it took her way too long to Shikaku's liking. Sure, her determination and passion could get her far, but now she was as good in shuriken throwing as Gai was in ninjutsu.

Shikaku sighed, he had to learn to accept she wasn't a very fast learner, it was going to take time. Unfortunately, he'd have to give up a lot of his own too.  _Damn, this is troublesome..._

Even though Shikaku wasn't watching, Akahana kept going. She refused to give up and complained when Shikaku decided to end the training for today.

When she came home, both her parents were waiting for her, the food already on the table, "How was it?" her mother immediately asked.

Kobayashi Yuuki wanted for Akahana to achieve her dream. She didn't know exactly what happened the day she came home with the question wether she could go to the Academy. However, she didn't really care, she just wanted her only daughter to be happy, even if it meant for her to be a shinobi.

Akahana was positive about the training she got, which both Yuuki and Sora were happy about, "I've improved my throwing and we're going to train my speed tomorrow."

"Is Nara-san a good teacher?" Sora asked.

"I don't know yet," Akahana replied, "We haven't done much yet.

After spending most of her weekend training with Shikaku, she had come to the conclusion he was quite a good teacher. Yes, he was lazy, but he was also very smart and knew what he was talking about.

He explained everything in a way so she would understand. Because of it, she was able to improve her speed and aiming and Shikaku had also taken the liberty to get to know her.

_"Why do you want to be shinobi?" he had asked her after one of their sessions._

_"I've always looked up to them. They are so brave and strong, I wanted to be like that too."_

_"You know the responsibilities, don't you? Do you know the risks you're taking?" He hoped she had actually thought about it before entering the Academy._

_She nodded, "I know I could die, but I don't really care. I'll just make sure I'm strong enough not to get killed!"_

_"Are you certain?" he asked._

_She looked at him, her green eyes sparkling with determination, "Of course I am! I wouldn't be training this hard otherwise!"_

_Shikaku decided to change the subject, the girl was stubborn and nothing he said could change her mind, "What's your favourite food?"_

_"Uhm...." Akahana hummed, thinking about an answer. She liked all kinds of food, but there was one thing she liked best. It was a dish her mother made for her every birthday, "Dango."_

And so they had ended up in Dangoya, a dango shop in Konoha. Akahana told him all sort of things about herself, her favourite colour, animals and she had also told him about her parents and the shop they runned.

She had also told Shikaku to tell some things about himself. She learned he liked to look after deer in the Nara forest and playing Shogi.

"Can you teach me how to play shogi?" she asked. Sora never really liked shogi, he preferred other kinds of games using his intelligence, like puzzles.

Shikaku was surprised when she asked him, he didn't expect a five year old to want to know more about stragedy. He agreed on it anyway, it would also be a good way for him to test her intelligence.

Akahana proved herself to be a clever girl for her age. She was nowhere near winning from the Nara, but she did make a couple of smart moves, trying to make him lose.

"I like it," she stated, "Tou-san isn't the type for stragedy games, but apparently I am."

"You're quite good for your age," Shikaku told her, "It could be a good way of improving your battle planning."

"Really?" she asked in excitement, "Thank you Nara-san!" She looked at the clock, realising she was supposed to be home an hour ago, "I gotta go!" she exclaimed as she ran out the door, "Good night Nara-san!"

Shikaku chuckled, she was quite amusing to watch and not as troublesome as he thought. She was a very kind girl and she had probably made many friends.

However, he was wrong about one thing. Even though she was kind and happy, she didn't have many friends. She was bullied by her class mates for being so bad in nearly everything. Her only friends were Asuma, Kurenai and Gai, but that was enough for her.


	4. Look Who's Laughing Now

The first day of the Academy after the weekend she mostly spent with Shikaku, they had to fight another student. Kakashi had to fight Obito and he won with ease. As usual, he was cocky about it and didn't even glance at the Uchiha boy.

Akahana was set up against Gai and she defenitely wasn't unpleasant about it. She was going to show her classmates she had improved and that she actually could be a proper shinobi some day. Even though she was on the losing hand at first, she fought back and eventually even won.

Most of their classmates were dumb-founded by the sight of her actually winning a fight. She smirked, but noticed both Kakashi and their chunin sensei weren't impressed. She was frustated about it to say the least. Even though they often said she was performing the worst in class, she had beaten Gai in a taijutsu match. After asking Kakashi about it, he reasoned Gai was actually the one who did the worst in class. "I thought you said that was me?" she asked.

"You're a close second."

She hit him on the head with her fist when he didn't expect it, "Just wait and see, Kakashi-chan. I'll prove ya I can be a shinobi."

"Good luck with that, Flower Girl," he told her prior to walking away from the redhead.

"Don't mind him, he's just a jerk," Obito muttered upon seeing how frustated she was.

She turned to him and said, "Well, he'd be more open-minded once that forest is out of his ass." Obito looked at her, not understanding why she talked about what was up his arse. "Someone needs to do it," she reasoned.

"Good luck with that," Obito mused before he walked away from her as well. He thought she was a strange girl, she didn't have clan pride to worry about. So why did she even want to be a shinobi that badly.

 

That afternoon, she had another training session with Shikaku, and this time, Sakumo was actually watching. He came to the conclusion he had made the right decision, entrusting Shikaku with this task. She had improved both her taijutsu and speed and she usually ended her training with a match of shogi.

"So, has anything happened today?" Shikaku asked as he moved one of his pawns forwards.

"I beat Gai in a taijutsu match," she replied with a bright smile, moving one of her own pawns forwards as well, "but sensei still refuses to believe in my potential like you and Hatake-san do."

Shikaku moved one of his two lances and said, "Then he's an idiot."

"Maybe they should fire him," Akahana stated boldly, "He lacks faith in his students."

They talked about what happened that day a little longer, to Sakumo's amusement. He could have never dreamed that the two of them would get along that good and they did tell each other some good jokes.

Inoichi and Chouza were wondering where Shikaku was and decided to look for him at his apartment, where they found him playing shogi with a five year old girl, commenting how the Academy was in desperate need of new senseis, "I mean, shouldn't he be the one helping me?" the girl spoke, "Though you're probably a better teacher."

"Like I said, he's an idiot," Shikaku said, "Do you want to meet my teammates?"

The girl perked up in surprise. To her, it seemed random, but the only reason he proposed the idea was because he knew that they were watching them, "I'd love to, Nara-san."

Inoichi and Chouza made their way to the two with a small wave, "I see you didn't show up at the training grounds to play shogi against a five year old," Inoichi said, "Who's the girl?"

"Akahana, these are my teammates, Yamanaka Inoichi and Akimichi Chouza. Inoichi, Chouza, this girl is Kobayashi Akahana, I'm tutoring her."

The two seventeen year olds were surprised to hear Shikaku was tutoring a girl, who probably went to the Academy, concidering how lazy he was and his idea of women in the first place. He usually said that women were troublesome, so what was so different about her?

"Pleasure to meet you," she stated. She then watched as Shikaku made his last move, putting her King in check with an 'õte'. There was no way for her to remove the check, making it checkmate, "You've won again, Nara-san."

She bid them all a good day before Sakumo decided to walk her home. Inoichi and Chouza asked Shikaku some questions about what had made him decide on this, and he said he was just bored. The girl had obviously grown on him a bit, he seemed to enjoy being in her presence and certainly didn't mind talking about her.

"She's got potential," he stated, "Sakumo-san said there was no one who could help her reach it, so he asked me. He thought I would make a good tutor for her."

"Do you like tutoring her?" Chouza asked.

He shrugged, "She's quick to understand, doesn't ask too many questions and she's quite eloquent, so yeah, I don't really mind."

 

On the way home, Akahana asked Sakumo why he decided to watch her training today.

"I was curious to see how it was working out for you," he told her, "I'm going to be away for a few weeks, a mission."

"You'll come back, right?" she asked him.

"I can't promise you anything," he told her, "but I'll try my hardest to come back."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Akahana smiled, "I'll see you in a few weeks then!" she exclaimed prior to running in an alley, leading to her home.

Sakumo let out a smile, the girl was growing on him and it seemed she was growing on Shikaku as well. It was going to take some time, but he believed she was going to succeed in being important to his son.

He walked further towards his own house, back to Kakashi who was probably wondering where he was.

 

Sora and Yuuki were waiting for their daighter to come back, she was supposed to be home half an hour ago. Yuuki figured the training took longer than she originally thought, whilst Sora was walking back and forth through the living room, thinking about different scenarios.

"Sora, she's fine," Yuuki said, "Sit down."

"But what if--"

Sora was interrupted when Yuuki pulled him onto the green sofa, "She's going to be a shinobi some day, she's being tutored by a jounin and has the support of the White Fang," she reasoned, "You shouldn't worry too much, you were a child once too."

"But this is different," Sora muttered, "She's my baby girl and--"

Yuuki put a finger on her husbands lips, "I recall your mother saying you used to sneak out in the middle of the night, back home the next afternoon. She must have it from you."

Sora sighed, "I guess you're right, Yuuki-chan."

Yuuki poked him in the side, "I thought we stopped with that, Flower Boy."

Sora was leaning over to kiss her on the cheek when the door opened, revealing a smiling redhead, "Tou-san, kaa-san, I beat Gai today!"

She looked at her parents and saw how they were sitting on the couch together, "What were you doing?"

Yuuki smiled, "Talking about you being late," she said, "Now, since you're home, let's have dinner."

"Good, I'm starving!" Sora exclaimed, resulting in him being hit with a pillow by Yuuki.

"I'm your wife, not your maid."

Sora stood up and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "I'll make dinner tomorrow then. At least we don't have to worry about Aka-chan being late."

Akahana grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of her head, "Sorry about that, we got a bit carried away."

"One more time and I won't allow you to go there anymore!" Sora exclaimed jokingly, even though Akahana believed him at first, her eyes widening. "Just kidding, you can always visit Nara-san."

The three of them talked about loads of things during dinner. How Akahana was doing, the store and Sora's new parttime job as a teacher at the regular school.


	5. Distant

A few weeks passed, in which Akahana kept training with Shikaku, got to know Inoichi and Chouza and still failed to convince the Academy sensei and Kakashi. 

Sakumo still hadn't returned yet, which was troubling the girl. Yet, she believed he would come back, the White Fang was not an easy person to take down. 

"Akahana!" the teacher yelled at her, "If you don't pay attention, you better leave this classroom now," he stated, "It's not like you've got something to lose." 

Akahana let out a sigh, "I'm not leaving," she said, "and I'm sorry you refuse to believe ordinary children can be shinobi. If you can't bring up the faith you should have in your students, you should be fired." 

Her remark surprised pretty much everyone, the usually polite and kind girl insulted their sensei right in front of everyone.

"Detention," he simply said, "You can't even bring up the respect I deserve." 

"I can do that," Akahana retorted, "I just don't want to. Nara-san agrees you're a terrible sensei." 

The man was growing angrier at every single word she spoke. This talentless girl was taunting him in front of everyone, her respect for him was nowhere to be found and how the hell could she know Shikaku? 

"How can you be so certain?" he asked. 

"He's my senpai," she replied with a closed eyes smile, "He's a better teacher than you." 

"Sugoi!" Gai commented as they walked out of the building, "You're awesome, Aka-chan!" 

"Arigatou, Gai-kun," she said, "I bet even Kakashi-chan didn't see it coming!" 

"Baka," the said boy sneered from behind her, "You shouldn't have done that." 

"It was worth it," she mused, "Tou-san would be proud." 

"He's your superior, you should respect him," Kakashi said.

"In a few years, he won't be," she said, "I'll be a chunin by then." 

"Hmpf," Kakashi grunted, "I doubt it." 

Akahana gave him a wide grin, "What'ver helps you sleep at night, Kakashi-chan." 

Kakashi looked at the girl, the grin still plastered to her freckled face. He despised her attitude towards him and the authority, yet it intrigued him in some strange way. He was not going to try and find out more about that, though, he stood above that. "Stop calling me that, Flower Girl," he simply said before he got ready to go home, "and I suggest you go to detention." 

"That's next week, Kakashi-chan." She then walked away from him with Gai walking beside her. She lived nearby, only a few blocks away. She didn't have training sessions today, since today was one of those days she was going to help in the shop. 

 

Sakumo walked through the streets of Konoha, on the way to his home. He had just reported his mission, which didn't end very well. In order to save his teammates lives, he had forsaken the mission, which resulted in failure.

Shinobi looked at him like a failure, he was no hero. He hung his head in shame as he walked as fast as possible, not wanting to stay out here for too long, he wanted to be away from all those judging eyes watching him. 

Not all of them looked at him like that, though. Caught up in his own sulking, he hadn't realised a five year old girl and her friend were approaching him. 

"Hatake-san! You're back!" He looked up and saw Akahana in front of him, standing next to Dai's son, "I see you kept your promise." 

He let out a tiny smile, the girl was able to brighten up his day, even if it was just a tiny bit, "Of course I did," he said, ruffling his hands through her red, shoulder-lenght hair, "Why wouldn't I?"

"I gotta go!" Gai exclaimed suddenly, uncomfortable with the situation. He ran off, his shiny black hair being the only thing they saw from him. 

Akahana looked in the direction he had gone, surprised to say the least. She shrugged, believing he was just going to take the long way home. 

"It was nice to see you, Akahana-chan," Sakumo said, "But I have to go home as well."

Akahana nodded, "Have a nice day, Hatake-san," she said with a wave. 

"Have a nice day as well, Akahana-chan," Sakumo said prior to them going in opposite directions.

 

That afternoon, Akahana was surprised to see Kakashi in their shop, looking for some flowers to get for his father, "Surprise to see you here, Kakashi-chan," she said from behind the desk. 

"I see you're finally where you belong, Flower Girl," he told her.

Akahana didn't like his remark and did her best to hide her displease as she asked whether she could help him. She didn't do that all too well, she sounded a bit hostile. 

"Flowers for your tou-san, huh?" she mused, "Find something fitting for him." 

"What do you suggest?" 

She thought about it, what fitted him the most? He was a strong shinobi, known as the White Fang, and he was a kind and honourable man. "White roses," she said, "Not my favourite, bit fitting for your father." 

"Then what are your favourite?" 

"Red ones," she said, "I like the colour." 

"You must really love your hair then." 

Akahana gave him a playful closed eyes smile, "How did you know?" 

 

It was official, Kakashi didn't understand her at all. No matter how mean someone was to her, she'd give back nothing but kindness, the Academy sensei being an exception. 

It was the first time he had actually listened to her, he had gone with the white roses as she suggested, not knowing exactly why she would pick them. But she's been helping there ever since she was three years old, so he figured she knew more of the subject than he did. 

 

At home, he found his father in the living room, sitting on the couch as he refreshed the bandages around his right leg. He perked up as he entered, "Kakashi, where have you been?" Sakumo asked, surprised by his late entry. 

"I got you something," he replied, giving him the single flower he held in his hand. Sakumo's birthday was coming up and he was sceduled for another mission quite soon, so Kakashi wanted to give him an early present. 

Sakumo took the white flower and put it on the table to hug his son, thanking him and telling him he loved him. The two had always been close, since Kakashi's mother had died when Kakashi was young and they only had each other from then on. 

Sakumo released the hug and gave his son a kiss on the forehead, "I'll put them in a vase, whilst you go to bed," he spoke, "Good night, Kakashi." 

"Good night, tou-san." 

 

The next few days went by as usual, minus Akahana's detention. Kakashi was a stuck-up jerk, Shikaku was still tutoring her and she had even gotten to know Inoichi and Chouza a bit better and Sakumo seemed to start feeling better, the redheads happiness radiating on him. 

However, it didn't take long for everything to take a drastic turn for the worse. It was only a week after her detention - which both her parents and Shikaku were kinda proud of - that she noticed a sudden change in the silver haired boy's behaviour. 

The said boy was distancing himself from everyone else, he no longer reacted to the girl's taunting and he showed off his skills more prominently. He didn't seem to care about anyone lately, acting cold and like they stood even further below him than before, even though Akahana had already beaten another student, an average one. 

When the girl wanted to talk to him about it, he would just walk away, saying it wasn't her business. 

 

She found out what happened quite soon though, she heard many people talk about it on the street. They spoke of a thing that could most definitely explain the sudden change, since she could imagine how Kakashi felt about it.

The truth was, Hatake Sakumo had been found dead on the ground that fateful night by Kakashi himself. He had taken his own life, not able to forgive himself, not able to live with the shame that came with his failure.

Kakashi hadn't cried a single tear and upon finding out why he took his life, he decided the mission should always be the priority. He was determined to pass the genin test as soon as possible, saying he was going to take it the same year they started at the Academy. 

He couldn't even smile anymore, a permanent scowl decorating his face. Akahana had noticed this, as did everyone else. Yet, she was the only one who wanted to do something about it, Gai, Asuma and Kurenai supporting her in her decision. 

She had made a promise to Sakumo a couple days before, regarding Kakashi. 

"Will you make him smile again, Akahana-chan?" Sakumo asked her. 

She nodded, "That's the plan," she said, "I promise I will try my best."

Sakumo let out a light smile, "Thank you, for everything." 

At the time, she didn't understand what made him say that, but now she did. He knew he was going to commit suicide, he had wanted to talk to her, to thank her for taking care of his son. 

 _I won't fail_ , she thought, _That's a promise, Hatake-san._

 

 

 

 

 

 


	6. Genin

At the end of he year, Kakashi had graduated, becoming a genin at the age of five. Akahana couldn't follow him immediately, but she comtinued training, striving to graduate as soon as possible.

She was still sad about what happened to Sakumo and it was not going to be easy getting over it, but keeping her promise was the only thing she could do to honour him.

"Kakashi-chan," the six year old muttered, "You've grown up way too fast."

Obito looked at her as if she had lost her mind, but he didn't ask her about it. If it was about Kakashi, he didn't want to know, he had openly called him a disgrace to the Uchiha and he was not going to forgive him for that.

"Aka-chan, you're talking to yourself again," Kurenai said softly from behind her. She was her only female friend and it was nice to have someone to talk to about things boys couldn't understand.

"Sorry," she said to her, "I must've been thinking out loud again." Yet, she started doing just that a little while later, trying to come up with ways to make him happy. She also did so on her way back home, not even hearing a single word that left Gai's mouth.

Gai didn't really mind, he was used to her habit of talking to herself when having a lot on her mind. The one thing that did frustate him was the fact she refused to tell him willingly.

But no matter how weird she got, he couldn't bring himself to dislike or abandon her, she was a lot like him, they understood each other and he cherished their friendship. Who in their right mind could hate her, with her permanent smile, even when worried or sad, and her kind personality?

Kakashi did, but there were probably a few screws loose in that baka's head.

Gai's father, Might Dai, liked the girl as well. She was a good influence to his son, to her classmates and others she knew. He liked her attitude and he believed she would some day be a great shinobi.

The adult genin was training in the backyard when his son came home, talking about the girl. He was a big fan of her, admired her and he could probably talk about her for a whole day.

There were times Dai was starting to think his son was going to fall in love with her some day, it definitely wouldn't surprise him.

\---

"So, I've heard that Kakashi graduated," Sora said, casually laying on the couch. He had a day off from work and he planned on spending the entire afternoon with his daughter. Shikaku was out on a mission, which gave him the opportunity. Besides, his brother would come back to Konoha with his wife and son in a couple months, he would have to give him a chance to connect with Akahana as well.

Akahana nodded, "He doesn't even smile anymore," she muttered as she sat down on her father's lap.

"His heart is broken, it made him sad," he told her, "I remember feeling like that after my first girlfriend broke up with me."

"Why would kaa-san do that?"

"Your mother wasn't the first person I've loved," he said, "I've had many girlfriends before I met your mother."

"You can fall in love more than once?"

Sora chuckled, "Of course you can, Aka-chan! It may be hard, but it is possible and very likely."

Akahana smiled and nodded, "But Kakashi-chan has never been in love."

"First of all, there are different kinds of love," he said.

What he said afterwards was something Akahana was definitely going to have to think about, "There are many ways to break a heart, and far too little to mend one," he told her, "If I or your mum were to die, you would feel heartbreak as well."

"But... how do you mend a heart then?" Akahana asked, starting to worry about whether she could actually succeed.

"That depends on who the person is," he explained, "but one way that works most of the time is by being kind and being there for the other. Give him someone to talk to, make it obvious you'll always be there to help him get over it."

The rest of the day, they spent time together, until Akahana started yawning, growing tired. She fell asleep soon after, so Sora had to carry her upstairs.

After laying her in her bed, covering her with the red blankets, he gave her a kiss on the forehead, "Good night, Aka-chan."

Later that night, Yuuki came back home as well, having worked all day, "She has gone to bed already?" she questioned, "Have you bored her that much?"

"How could you say such a thing?" Sora exclaimed dramatically, a hand over his heart.

They both laughed as Yuuki gave her husband a hug and a kiss on the lips, "I'm joking, Sora-kun."

~*~*~

One year passed, a year in which Akahana improved drastically and Kakashi had been busy with missions and training.

He didn't even hear about Akahana taking the graduation exam that year, which the sensei was still very surprised about.

The students taking it had to do the clone jutsu, one of her best jutsus. She graduated with ease, leaving the classroom whilst her sensei - or ex-sensei - looked in the distance with his mouth wide open.

The Kobayashi family wasn't a predictable family. He had met Sora, got him angry and they had fought. As Sora picked his daughter up from the Academy with Yuuki that afternoon, they caught sight of one another.

Whilst the chunin looked at the man with a hateful look on his face, a cheeky grin was plastered onto Sora's face.

As Akahana was talking to Gai, Kurenai and Asuma, the four of them overheard a conversation between the two adults.

"I see you've underestimated my daugter, Baka-chan," Sora said, "Just like you underestimated me all those years ago."

"She's going to get herself killed soon enough," he huffed, "and don't call me that ever again, Kobayashi."

"You're still bitter about that?" Sora questioned, moving closer to the middle aged shinobi, "how I totally beat you in a fight."

"You were lucky."

"That's what you want to believe," Sora told him with a wink.

All four children laughed, amused by the scene that was unvolding right in front of them, "Your father is awesome, Akahana!" Gai exclaimed, "I see who you got it from!"

"That's what I fell for," Yuuki said, standing beside them, "But I'm quite awesome as well."

\---

Back home, the three of them found three people in their living room: a man, a woman, and a twelve-year old, "Nii-san!" Sora exclaimed as he hugged the grown man. He had brown hair, whilst Sora's hair was blonde. His blue eyes were also different from Sora's green eyes.

"Your daughter?" the blue eyed man asked, pointing at Akahana, "Good thing she isn't going after you in appearance," he joked.

"Typical, Aoi," Sora muttered, "but you're right. Akahana, this is your uncle Aoi. Aoi, meet my daughter Akahana."

"Nice to meet you," Aoi said, shaking the girl's hand, "This is my son, Isamu and my wife, Mizuko." The twelve year old boy smiled, with his blue eyes closed, so did the blue haired woman.

Yuuki introduced herself as well, and Aoi seemed content with the kind of woman his little brother had chosen to wed, "Good choice, little brother," he said with a wink, "This way, you might be able to breed out--"

"No more jokes about my appearance, nii-san," Sora interrupted, "It's growing old."

"It's still fun and relevant," Aoi retorted with a grin.

\---

Later that afternoon, Kakashi wasn't expecting to see Akahana show up on the training ground he was training, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to show ya something," Akahana grinned, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Show me then," Kakashi told her, "I don't want to waste too much time."

Happily, she moved her arm from behind her back, revealing the Konoha headband tied around her polse, "Who said I was never going to graduate?"

Kakashi stood with his mouth wide open, unable to speak. He eventually took a breath, calming himself down and spoke up, "Well, I doubt you'll reach chunin, like I will by the end of this year."

"A simple 'congratulations' would've been enough," Akahana muttered, "But I will reach chunin as well."

Kakashi gestured her to leave the area, "Leave me alone."

The redhead shrugged, "I better get going," she spoke, "See you tomorrow Kakashi-chan."

"Why?"

"Don't you know? We're on the same team from now on," she told him with a wink, prior to turning around and heading back home.

"What?!"


	7. Team

Since there were no two men teams left when she graduated, but mostly due to her own begging to the Hokage, Akahana was placed on the same team as Kakashi, with Obito and Rin, as a fifth member.

Minato had been surprised to see a six year old showing up on the training ground, but accepted it anyway. He was impressed by the skill she showed, though he couldn't deny it needed improvement.

She had been on their team for nearly a year now, and she had easily become friends with the nine year old Rin, yet Obito was still a bit bitter about her defending Kakashi.

They were on a mission, one that was going to take about a week. The first night, Akahana had slept all night in peace, dreaming of happy things.

It was during the second night of their, until now succesful, mission, that she had trouble falling asleep. She couldn't help but think about what her tou-san said about heartbreak. What if she couldn't mend Kakashi's heart? She would fail Sakumo's request, something she did not want.

She decided to go for a short walk, just to get some fresh air. She was as silent as possible, trying not to wake up Rin.

Outside, she saw Kakashi sitting against the wall, seeming to be in deep thought, "Shouldn't you be asleep?" he asked when he noticed her.

"Shouldn't _you_ be asleep?" she retorted with a raised brow.

Kakashi didn't say anything, yet the girl decided to sit next to him, "What is the problem?" she casually asked.

"I don't have any problems."

"You have lots of problems."

"No, I don't."

"Let me guess, daddy issues? It's about him, am I right?" Akahana leaned closer to the silver haired boy, much to his discomfort, just to look him in the eyes, the green meeting onyx.

Kakashi averted his gaze, "I don't want to talk about it."

"But I do," Akahana bluntly stated, "I knew your father, he was always very kind to me and I respect him as a shinobi."

"Why?"

Akahana briefly closed her eyes and looked down, "I admired his courage," she simply said. Kakashi looked at her with slightly widened eyes, what could she possibly know about him. Akahana noticed this, so she took the liberty to explain herself a little bit more, "It takes courage to fight your enemies, but I believe it takes even more to pick your teammates over the mission."

Kakashi was at loss for words, he didn't understand how she could have known about the reason behind his father's suicide. How did the two of them meet each other anyway?

"I understand your confusion, but without Hatake-san, I wouldn't be standing where I am now. He has helped me reach this point and encouraged me not to give up on anything," Akahana said, prior to standing up, letting out a loud yawn, "I want you to know one thing, Kakashi."

Kakashi looked at the girl, even more confused than before, "What?"

"If you ever need someone to talk to, I'll be there for you." She gave him a smile and went inside the building, Kakashi looking as she disappeared from his sight. It was obvious to him there was more to her than what meets the eye. She wasn't that shallow as he originally thought. 

Kakashi and Akahana spent more nights together, whether it was her talking about things that happened in her life, or the two of them sitting next to each other in silence, "My uncle, aunt and cousin showed up in Konoha a couple days ago," Akahana spoke on the last night they were going to spent outside the village, "I don't know why, it's obviously not just to visit."

"Why not? Maybe he missed you?" 

"Tou-san and oji-san hadn't seen each other in years, oji-san left a couple years before I was born," Akahana said, "So I don't think he even knew of me." She looked at Kakashi, "Not that I don't like their company! I like having them around and my itoko-kun is very nice, but they don't want to tell me why." 

It fell silent, but unlike other nights, it was an awkward one, "So, did you have any other family members aside from your father?" she then asked, desperate to hear something. 

Kakashi shook his head, "My kaa-san died when I was very young," he spoke. 

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's fine. You couldn't have known." 

Akahana glanced at him, " _Anou sa_ , you're not that bad. Once you get past that cold act." Kakashi turned his head to look at the girl, wearing a light grin on her face, slowly turning into a chuckle, "Who would have thought, the great Hatake Kakashi has a soft side to him."

"Depends on who I'm with," he told her.

"So... I'm special to you?" Akahana asked with one brow raised. Kakashi shook his head, the girl wasn't that special, she was an ordinary shinobi and a typical nice girl. He gulped as he looked into her eyes. Luckily for him, the redhead did not search anything behind it, "What do you say, Kakashi? Friends?" she offered as she held out her hand for him to shake, like it was some sort of deal they were making.

Kakashi shook her hand, "I can live with that, Flower Girl."

"All right then, Kakashi-chan."

***

The entire team came back from the mission unharmed. It had been a succes, and Minato was to report it to Hiruzen.

The next day, they had a day off, and to Akahana's surprise, she was called to the Hokage's office.

"Hokage-sama?" she questioned, "Did I do something wrong?"

Hiruzen smiled at her, "No, not at all. You're here because I need to inform you about something."

"What is it?"

"From now on, you're not a member of team Minato anymore," he said, "You have been transferred to another team as the third genin."

Akahana stared at the Hokage in silence. Why was she removed from the team, just as things were starting to go right, "Was my placement on team Minato only temporary?"

Hiruzen nodded, "I'm sorry you weren't informed about this."

"It's all right, Hokage-sama," she spoke up, "At least Kakashi and I are now friends!" she added with a smile, "And that's not going to change!"

Hiruzen watched as the girl left the office. He couldn't believe it, how could she have reacted this happy about this matter? He expected her to be angry, or maybe even a little bit sad, but _happy_?!

***

That night, Akahana had trouble falling asleep, worrying about how Kakashi and Rin were going to react to the news. Would they blame her? Or would they blame Hokage-sama?

She decided to get something to drink, but before she could descend the stairs, she overheard a conversation between Sora and Aoi.

"Aoi, not that I don't want you here, but what made you visit us?"

"It's true I've wanted to visit you ever since I heard you got a wife. I mean, who would have thought someone like you would find love?"

"Aoi..."

"I'm sorry, Sora. Anyways, a war is brewing between Konoha and Kiri," Aoi spoke, "You know how we grew up there, and how I wanted to be a shinobi."

Sora nodded, he remembered it clearly. His brother always bragged about being a fearless shinobi who would protect those he loves, whilst he preferred picking flowers with their mother.

"You sent me that letter in which you said your daughter wanted to be a shinobi, and that's why I came here," Aoi continued, "I didn't want to fight my own family, otouto, I don't want to witness my niece dying on the battlefield or assasinated by a spy from Kiri."

"She won't," Sora said, "I won't let them send a young girl to war."

Aoi nodded, "If they succeed in ignoring your wish and sending her to the slaughter of countless shinobi, I'll make sure neither Akahana or Isamu become one of the casualties."

"How about your wife?"

"She agrees with me," Aoi replied, "She's a mother, and a mother doesn't want to see their offspring covered in blood without a pulse. Neither does a father."

Sora stood up, so did Aoi. The two of them hugged, having missed each other dearly, "Thank you, nii-san," Sora said, "It's good to have you here."

"I know I won't regret it," Aoi said, "I've missed you, otouto."

They broke apart, "We've got a lot of explaining to do tomorrow, don't we?" Aoi questioned.

"Most likely."


End file.
